most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.

Friday, May 10, 2013

no fate but what we make

hi there

for reasons we won't go in to right now i am sorting through all my vinyl. a damned fine collection it is too, if i say so myself, although at this stage i am prepared to say it features rather more Bananarama than i recall buying over the years. never mind that for now, instead i invite you to behold one of the prize slabs of vibes in my collection.

behold, mortals, the soundtrack for the excellence that is The Terminator!

yeah, dig it! you kids with your downloads and mp3 things on your iTwats probably cannot quite grasp the idea of owning and holding a piece of music. i bought this on sight back in the 80s. it probably cost about £5 or so, no doubt purchased at HMV Middlesbrough. not that i would ever part with it, but this seems to have been a wise investment, going on what people seem prepared to pay for it these days.

as a single lp album it unsually comes in a gatefold sleeve. here's the best picture i could get of it

you have to remember how cool and indeed awesome it was to have just pictures from a film. this was all back before people really had libraries of home video tapes, and it was certainly before a rather helpful News At Ten episode showed me exactly how to wire up two video machines in order to let nature take its course.

is there much of a point to this post, other than showing off this record? yes, there very much is, so do bear with me. please. in the mean time, here's how the back of the record looks, or if you will how the back of the record looks with a big massive camera flash on it.

even more cool pictures from the film, and this time in colour! yes, OK, the point is coming up now.....

speaking of the back, here's the bottom of the spine.

did you spot it? yes, no or maybe? here is a close up of the important part of the bottom of the spine.

yes, that's right, it has "I'll be back..." written on it. very clever, you might think, an obvious reference to Arnie's celebrated catchphrase. except it's not that simple, as this wasn't Arnie's catchphrase when this record was made!

the vinyl edition of this soundtrack was only issued once, in 1984, as you can see here if you must. at that time, Arnie had only ever said "I'll be back" once, a bit of a throwaway line in a police station where Sarah Connor was being held by Bishop out of Aliens and that big black fella who got a worm put in his ear by Khan in Star Trek II The Wrath Of Khan. and some desk copper writing things with a pencil.

it was hardly the most memorable line in the film - that honour must go to either Arnie's answer to the question of if he has a "dead cat" in his room, or indeed the bit where he asks Hudson out of Aliens for his clothes. just how the hell, then, did whoever designed the cover clock that either this phrase would become Arnie's signature line, or indeed a sequel would ever be made?

it's probably just a happy accident, or just part of a conspiracy that will one day see Arnie get some sort of political power and machines dominate daily life.

i hope this little oddity has been of some interest to you and no, not at all is my answer to anyone considering asking if i would part with this record!